Highly active anti-retroviral treatment as a bridge towards education for all in sub-Saharan Africa

HIV/AIDS continues to pose serious challenges to the health and economic development of many low-resource countries. Over the last decade, the impact of HIV/AIDS has been well documented (UNAIDS2004). The disease is pervasive, affecting all sectors, with severe shortand long-term social, economic, and demographic implications. Recent evidence from sub-Saharan Africa suggests that HIV/AIDS-related morbidity and mortality have been experienced in most sectors including education, health, agriculture, defence, law enforcement, tourism, and private industry (UNAIDS 2001). Over the past two decades, many low-resource countries have responded to the epidemic by implementing multi-pronged interventions including prevention, treatment, care, and support. Multi-sectoral responses across health and non-health sectors, as well as across public and private sectors are required to build a sustainable response to HIV/ AIDS. An increasingly common component of these strategies is the provision of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) to HIV/AIDS patients. There is growing consensus in the international community that HAART, even in low-resource settings, should have the same level of priority as the prevention of HIV infections. This therapy has become more feasible recently due to declining drug prices and increased donor funding to support the intervention (Kombe & Smith 2003). According to the recent UNAIDS estimate, 6 million people in low-resource countries require antiretroviral therapy, yet fewer than one in ten has access to treatment (UNAIDS 2004). The purpose of this article is to call the international community to consider investing in HAART for the education sector. The article reviews and presents the rationale for investing in this sector and argues that investing in teachers will yield substantial benefits and economic savings for countries. In addition, the article uses Zambia to illustrate innovative HAART programmes that are targeting teachers through a small loan programme.